SPH selling sgCarMart to Toyota consortium for S$150 million

ONLINE automotive marketplace sgCarMart, owned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), is being sold to a Toyota consortium in an all-cash deal, confirming an earlier report by The Business Times.

The proposed transaction values sgCarMart at S$150 million, SPH and Toyota Financial Services Singapore said in a joint press release on Friday evening (Feb 25).

The consortium is led by Toyota Financial Services Singapore, which owns 76 per cent of the consortium, with the remaining 24 per cent owned by Toyota Tsusho Asia Pacific and Phillip Binter.

The deal includes sgCarMart's intellectual property and its subsidiaries, Quotz, a consumer-to-business online car auction platform in Singapore, and Quotz (Taiwan).

The acquisition of the legal entity SGCM will be completed on Feb 28.

SPH bought the marketplace for S$60 million in April 2013. The Singapore-listed company has been shopping for a buyer since at least the second half of 2021, an industry source said.

Despite the push into the scene by disruptors like online platforms Carro and Carsome, both of which were founded in 2015, sgCarMart has been a dominant player in Singapore, with the widest car dealer network. This has led industry observers to flag sgCarMart as a potential acquisition target for startups looking to bulk up their automotive segment.

sgCarMart has been profitable for the past 5 years, according to regulatory filings. The latest available financial filing has the company reporting a profit of S$5.1 million for the year ending Aug 31, 2020, up 10.8 per cent from S$4.6 million in the year before.

At least 10 cars are sold every hour and the platform contributes to about 70 per cent of all second-hand car transactions in Singapore, SPH and Toyota said in their statement.

The site reaches more than 4 million users each month, making it the top-ranked automotive website, they added. The platform houses over 30,000 car listings.

"Singapore can be truly proud of this digital icon and we are committed to utilising our know how and resources to further strengthen SGCM in and beyond Singapore," said Vinod Cherumadathil, managing director and chief executive of Toyota Financial Services Singapore.

SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung added: "Working with the solid SGCM team to build and grow the business has been a very positive experience for SPHL...This divestment is part of SPHL's ongoing capital recycling initiatives."

Read more:

• sgCarMart: Singapore's ebay of cars
• Carousell needs to scale up quickly in property, auto verticals as it mulls exit strategy
• New binding feature for online car auction service Quotz